Ash Talks Books

In class nine, when I was in West Bengal, I discovered the work of P.G Wodehouse. Loved stories of Jeeves and Wooster, Blandings Castle, and some of his standalone books. As I mentioned in another post , a friend from Sahaganj gave me 'Indiscretions of Archie', one of Wodehouse's less popular works. I also read a few classics like 'Little Women' by Louisa May Alcott, 'Little Men', and 'Jo's Boys', and 'The Old Fashioned Girl' by the same author. I was a pre-teen then. My teen years were filled primarily with bestsellers by Sidney Sheldon, Jeffrey Archer, Ken Follet, Erich Segal, Robin Cook, and Michael Crichton. Of course, as I mentioned in another post , Gone with the Wind at 14 dominated my life, as did Thornbirds later. My friend in class 11 gave me a copy of 'The Firm' by John Grisham on my birthday and that led me to read most of his other books, too, like 'The client', 'The Runaway Jury' , 'A T...

Book Memory#3: Tintin comics and Enid Blytons played a crucial role in keeping me out of trouble in my childhood. They kept my overactive imagination engaged, along with numerous other hobbies like listening to music( everything ever sung by Madonna), generally monkeying around - climbing the gate of our house and holding on to the tree branch there for support; climbing up the pipes at the back of the house and landing on the sunshade, only to haul myself onto the terrace; constructing tents on the terrace and inviting friends over to cook dinner on a candle flame- the list goes on... My childhood was awesome!And books contributed, in a large part, to it. So both in the Enid Blyton series and in one of the Tintins, this concept of 'solar eclipse' was introduced where the protagonists convince the 'natives' that they have magical powers and are able to control the sun according to their whims and fancies. This gets them out of being cooked alive! I'd ...

I highly recommend the book 'A man called Ove'. It's about a man who outwardly appears rough and tough but has a heart of gold as seen by his interactions with his neighbours and even the cat. He's the kind of man from our father's and grandfather's generation. You don't see men like that these days. There's of course a lot more to this story than i'm letting on but i dont want to give away too much of the story. JUST READ IT to feel all warm and fuzzy inside! WONDER 'Wonder' by R.J.Palacio is about a little boy with a facial anomaly that causes people to stare at him. He is home-schooled until class 5, then introduced to regular school. The book takes us through the perspective of August( the boy), his sister, and friends who surround him-- how he navigates school, bullying, and not only coming to terms with being 'different' but also recognizing his own worth. Friendship and the need to be kind forms the crux of this wonder...